Assignment 2: Human Sounds Mashup

                 

         While building my sound composition, I came up with the idea to build onto each sound as I continued with this creation. I started out using the sound of starting a car, which would make a lot of sense to starting the piece. Then I wanted to incorporate a sound I could use to hold a steady beat, such as the clicking from turning a lamp on and off. Another sound you hear throughout the piece is the sound of opening a pop can in the left ear followed by running water in the right ear. I wanted each listener with headphones to have the opportunity to hear the sounds from different directions, which is very realistic. Also, not far into the beginning of the piece, I added another constant sound that appeared to be footsteps in the distance. Before manipulating the speed of the footsteps, the sound was actually someone running on a treadmill. Throughout this process, I decided that I wanted to have some sort of a big ending followed by sudden fade and disappearance of the many sounds I incorporated. One of my favorite sounds was the crunching of a water bottle. I put this bold sound at the end for a big resolution as well as the microwave beeps that finalized the piece. At this point I still had a few sounds left that I wanted to incorporate such as a sneeze, typing on a keyboard, and eating cereal. First I inserted a sneeze in the beginning where I though had almost an awkward silence, later building two more sneezes into the resolution. Then, I added the crunching of the cereal that made the listening feel like they were eating something crunchy throughout. With incorporating the typing, I decided to add it towards the end where all the sounds came together in a big resolution. These sounds such as working out in the gym, turning a lamp on and off, and my roommate sneezing are sounds that are apart of my everyday life in my apartment. They lead me to start creating something no one has ever heard before, even though these are everyday sounds most people hear. I thought that working sonically was going to be pretty difficult and even boring with little to look at. However, after creating my sound composition, I became very intrigued with what I was doing. Oftentimes, I had to close my eyes to see where I need to add sounds or move them around.In my piece, I did not want to manipulate the sounds too much that no one would know what they were. I want people to be able to pick out and have a pretty good guess to what each of my sounds is. Mashing these every day sounds together, making music, makes one think of these sounds in a very different way. When I hear my piece I think of someone getting ready to drive to work then flash forwarding to a busy day at a normal office job. With all of these every day sounds being amplified, it is almost annoying hearing all these sounds at once from all directions. The piece really makes the listener feel tiresome and relieved when the sound dies down after the big resolution.